Mom’s Support Tied to Child's Brain Development

Jan. 30, 2012 -- Mothers who are more supportive of their young children through the stresses and frustrations of life are doing more than heading off full-blown tantrums. They may actually be encouraging healthy brain development, a new study shows.

For decades, researchers have observed that the brains of animals who are nurtured early in life look different than those of animals that are not given similar care. Studies have also found that nurtured animals tolerate stress better than animals that are raised without support.

“Parental support, particularly in early childhood, is a very, very powerful force in a child’s life,” says researcher Joan L. Luby, MD, a professor of child psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. “It’s a very positive, powerful force.”

Tracking the Impact of Support on Young Brains

The study followed 92 children from preschool into their grade-school years.

For the study, Luby and her team videotaped each parent and child while they completed an experiment called “the waiting task.”

Children, who were between the ages of 4 and 7, were presented a brightly wrapped gift, but were told they had to wait eight minutes before they could open it.

In the meantime, moms were asked to fill out a stack of forms.

“It really simulates a real-life parenting situation that people often face. You’re cooking dinner and your child is throwing a tantrum, and how do you juggle that?” Luby says.

“The maternal support had to do with how much positive parenting the parent showed: how much they reassured the child, how much they helped regulate the child when the child made bids that they needed that gift,” she says.

Later, trained assistants scored the moms on how well they helped their children through the stress of the task.

Researchers continued to follow the children, and when they were between the ages of 7 and 13, their brains were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Researchers were particularly interested in the size of a comma-shaped brain region called the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory and how we handle stress. Hippocampus size has been linked to factors such as stressful life events and depression severity.